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Journalism of Courage
From a raft of corruption allegations to a quick flip-flop on a Bill to provide domicile quota in all establishments, the Congress government in Karnataka seems unable to get anything right at present. These allegations have provided a lease of life to the BJP that now has multiple issues over which it can corner the Congress.
As the Monsoon Session began on Monday, the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) stepped up efforts to corner the government in both Houses of the Legislature. On Wednesday, the Opposition parties received another shot in the arm as the Industry reacted sharply to the Siddaramaiah-led Cabinet’s decision to clear a Bill envisaging 75% reservation in the jobs in non-management and 50% in management sector in all establishments for “local” candidates.
On Thursday, BJP leaders, including the party’s state president B Y Vijayendra, were detained when they attempted to lay siege on the Assembly over the alleged scam in the Karnataka Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation Limited and demand the Chief Minister’s resignation. At a press conference, state Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda alleged that the Centre was trying to bring down the Karnataka government as they attempted Jharkhand, Delhi, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and West Bengal. The alleged scams also continued to rock the Karnataka Assembly where Siddaramaiah on Thursday targeted the Opposition and said he does not have a single “black spot” in his career.
The BJP also hit out at the government in the Assembly over the domicile quota Bill, calling the state administration a “Tughlaq government”. In response, Siddaramaiah reiterated that the Bill would be discussed “at length” in the next Cabinet meeting before being tabled.
For the Congress, these accusations are a challenge because, unlike former CM B S Yediyurappa of the BJP, Siddaramaiah has had an image of a non-corrupt leader and of being a strong social justice advocate. But that image has taken a hit since one of the allegations involves his wife and the other is related to the misappropriation of funds meant for the Scheduled Tribe (ST) Valmiki community. In 2016, during his previous tenure as CM, Siddaramiah had faced a row over a luxurious Hublot watch that he sported, but he had managed to escape unscathed
Admitting to the turbulence within the party, a Congress leader said, “We have to admit the fact that there are severe corruption allegations against the government and now Siddaramaiah. Before the public records this perception (that the government is corrupt), we need to turn things around. The only relief is that there are no Assembly elections, so we have time.”
One of the major reasons why the previous Basavaraj Bommai government was voted out was the corruption allegations against it, particularly those made by him in his suicide note of 2022. Though the BJP government tried to manage it by easing out minister K S Eshwarappa, against whom the allegations were raised, the party failed to get rid of the “40% commission” tag that the Congress levelled, effectively costing it in the elections.
However, former Karnataka Congress general secretary B S Shivanna, who has been associated with Siddaramaiah for four decades, said the allegations would not affect the CM in any way. “The system is corrupt. These scams are being exposed because he (Siddaramaiah) is at the helm. When it comes to MUDA, not just Siddaramaiah, other political leaders have also got sites according to the rules and regulations. It is just political mudslinging and he is going to come out clean.”
State BJP chief Vijayendra said even he was surprised to see Siddaramaiah’s family “involved in the MUDA scam” and claimed that more cases would emerge in the coming months. “It is true that Siddaramaiah in his political career did not face corruption allegations but this time it is different,” Vijayaendra said. “The Congress and Siddaramaiah are in a fix. People have been watching and it is going to affect the party’s prospects beyond its imagination. We suspect that ST funds were used for election campaign purposes and in the next two to three months you will see a lot of corruption cases involving the present government.”
The Siddaramaiah government is accused of irregularities in the 50:50 incentive scheme of the Mysuru Urban Development Authority, or MUDA. As part of the scheme, people who lost land for the development of layouts received either 50% of the developed land or alternative sites. The BJP has alleged that MUDA illegally allotted an alternative site to Siddaramaiah’s wife Parvati who is said to have received 14 prime plots in Mysuru in exchange for a 3.16-acre parcel of land outside Mysuru city that had been gifted to her in 2010.
Siddaramaiah has claimed that the alternative land was received within the framework of the law but this has not been enough to get the Opposition off his back. The CM has said MUDA is free to cancel the allocation of the alternate site, provided it pays compensation. On Sunday, to blunt the Opposition’s campaign, the government also constituted a one-man judicial commission to probe the matter, appointing Justice (retired) P N Desai. Vijayendra said the probe was just an eyewash and demanded a CBI inquiry.
An analysis of Siddaramaiah’s election affidavits — filed for the Assembly polls in 2013, 2018, and 2023 — and publicly available land records reveals several inconsistencies in submissions regarding the ownership of the 3.16-acre “agricultural land”.
On the first day of the Monsoon Session, the BJP targeted the government over the siphoning of funds from the Valmiki Corporation that was meant to be used for the welfare of STs.
Multiple agencies, including the CBI and the ED, have registered cases. Siddaramaiah has admitted in the Assembly that Rs 89.6 crore was siphoned off and not Rs 187 crore as alleged by the BJP. Tribal Welfare Minister B Nagendra who resigned after the allegations surfaced is now in ED custody. The entire episode came to light when an official of the corporation, P Chandrashekaran, involved in auditing and coordinating with Union Bank of India died by suicide on May 26. In his six-page suicide note, he named several officials and levelled allegations of systemic corruption.
While the government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations, the BJP accused the government of attempting to bury the case. Reading out Chandrashekaran’s note in the Assembly, Leader of the Opposition R Ashoka alleged it was a “government-sponsored murder”. The Opposition party has alleged that the Congress used the money for the Lok Sabha election campaign.
Even as the Congress prepared to face the Opposition’s attacks on the MUDA and Valmiki Corporation scams, the BJP on Monday alleged irregularities in the procurement of rice under the “Anna Bhagya” scheme.
BJP MLC N Ravikumar alleged that state government departments were buying rice at two different prices. “The food and civil supplies department is buying one kg at Rs 34.6 for the Anna Bhagya Scheme whereas the school education department is procuring at Rs 29.3 for midday meals. Why is the Food and Civil Supplies department paying more and where is the money going?”
Food and Civil Supplies Minister K H Muniyappa said the government earlier procured rice from three Central government agencies but now “we have started getting it through tender”.
Pushing back against the BJP’s narrative of a government steeped in corruption, the Congress has pointed to the alleged Devaraj Urs Truck Terminal (DUTT) scam that allegedly occurred when the Opposition party was in power. Last week, the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested former BJP MLC D S Veeraiah, a former chairperson of DUTT, over alleged misappropriation to the tune of Rs 47.1 crore between 2021 and 2023.
